Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize??" Voted Official Oklahoma Rock Song

Evidently, Oklahoma has spent the past two years working on a very important legislative matter: the nomination and confirmation of the Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize??" as the state's official rock song. According to a press release from the Oklahoma Historical Society, the state's legislature voted to affirm the track's importance, putting Wayne Coyne and Co. in the history books for real as part of Senate Joint Resolution 24.

The 2002 track from Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots beat out some stiff competition: the 10 finalists that were "representative of the pervasive influence of Oklahoma and Oklahomans on the development of rock & roll" included "Let's Have a Party" by Wanda Jackson (1958); "Walk Don't Run" by The Venture (1960); "Endless Oklahoma Sky" by John Moreland and the Black Gold Band (2008); "Home Sweet Oklahoma" by Leon Russell (1971); "Move Along" by the All-American Rejects (2005); "Never Been to Spain" written by Hoyt Axton (1971); "Oklahoma" by The Call (1986); "Heartbreak Hotel" written by Mae Boren Axton (1956); and "After Midnight" by J.J. Cale (1965).

An official Official Oklahoma Rock Song Advisory Panel was convened in 2007 to recognize the role the state has played in rock history and after the nominations were gathered in 2008 (2,498 were submitted for 458 different tunes) and narrowed down to 10 by the panel, the public voted on the Website oklahomarocksong.org. When the 21,061 votes were counted, the Lips were on top. In case you were wondering, voters submitted comments, too, which include "The beauty in the message of 'Do You Realize??' perfectly suits the beautiful state of Oklahoma."

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

More Song Stories entries »

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